Neighbor's relative in custody in Grosse Pointe Park woman's death

May 20, 2013

Written by

Tammy Stables Battaglia

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A neighbor of the Grosse Pointe Park woman found strangled to death in her duplex Thursday said investigators raided his home over the weekend and his relative is in police custody.

Police would not comment on the claims regarding Thursday’s homicide of Sebrina Gianino, 35, a receptionist at Platz Animal Hospital on Mack Avenue.

Dale Williams, 22, said police with search warrants raided his home in the 1300 block of Wayburn at about noon Sunday, about 24 hours after they took a relative into custody on Saturday.

He said they also searched the family’s trash and attic, and took a couple of his relative’s shirts, explaining they were looking for evidence connected to Gianino’s death.

Police said they responded to a 911 call at the woman’s Wayburn residence about 12:11 a.m. Thursday and found her dead inside. Neighbors said the woman lived on Wayburn with her boyfriend, but she also had a residence on Beaconsfield in Grosse Pointe Park. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday ruled her death a homicide because of strangulation.

A man who answered the door at her duplex Monday morning said he did not wish to comment and closed the door.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller said she did not have any information to release Monday.

“We do not have a warrant,” Miller said in an e-mail. “The police are continuing their investigation.”

A spokeswoman for the Grosse Pointe Park Department of Public Safety said Monday the department was not releasing any information.

Neighbor Bob Toole, 46, who’s lived on the block for about three years, said he saw about a half-dozen police cars pull up to Williams’ home at noon Sunday. He said detectives with latex gloves and cameras took pictures and gathered evidence in the home for a couple of hours.

Toole said the woman’s boyfriend is still in shock.

“He’s numb,” said Toole, adding that the victim’s boyfriend stopped at his home Sunday after answering another round of questions at the Grosse Pointe Park Department of Public Safety. “He’s really taking it hard.”